The Benefits of Distraction and Overstimulation

New York Magazine by Sam Anderson | May. 25, 2009 (Special Report)

Twitter, Adderall, lifehacking, mindful jogging, power browsing, Obama’s BlackBerry, and the benefits of overstimulation.

Over the last several years, the problem of attention has migrated right into the center of our cultural attention. We hunt it in neurology labs, lament its decline on op-ed pages, fetishize it in grassroots quality-of-life movements, diagnose its absence in more and more of our children every year, cultivate it in yoga class twice a week, harness it as the engine of self-help empires, and pump it up to superhuman levels with drugs originally intended to ... Full Story »

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by Robert B. Elliott - May. 25, 2009

Absolutely, yes. This is a monumental issue, regardless of which side you come down on. Pay attention. This guy did his homework and then some & his ability to interject humor into a serious topic is extraordinary. Pay attention. The ability to think & think straight, with or without distractions is crucial to a satisfying life & any relationship. The knife cuts both ways, as I believe was a main conclusion. Pay attention. Being able to focus & concentrate requires skill but sometimes, you need peace, quiet, and NO distractions.

The reason kids can't think in many cases is because thinking is not permitted in most schools. School curriculums & bureaucracies are horrible distractions. Every second is consumed by some need to pay attention to something quite irrelevant to the answering of real questions & the education of the student through engagement with something meaningful & personally interesting. Are you paying attention?